Warrants issued for Shetty and Gere

An Indian court issued arrest warrants for both Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere. The warrants were issued in the north-western city of Jaipur after a local citizen filed a complaint charging that the public display of affection offended local sensibilities. Judge Dinesh Gupta issued the warrants after viewing a video clip of the incident. According to the judge, the kiss was “highly sexually erotic” and violated India's strict public obscenity laws.

The warrants issued because of a kiss at a public event promoting AIDS awareness, claimed that the pair “transgressed all limits of vulgarity”. A spokesman for Shilpa Shetty, Dale Bhagwagar, said the actress was upset by the news:

“She does hurt, she does feel low. She feels she is being constantly targeted, but anyone who knows her well knows she can’t be put down.

“Shilpa wishes that people would focus on the real issue , Aids awareness, and not three pecks on her cheek,” he said, adding that she had not yet received any court summons.

Shilpa, who is on a pilgrimage in the south of India, has been hounded by reporters anxious for a response from her. She had to scold them asking if such questions were appropriate in a temple. A police official in Jaipur said that if found guilty of the charges both Shetty and Gere could be sent to prison for six years. In response Shetty's spokesman said it was amateur and frivolous on the part of a government official to state that someone can get jailed for pecks on the cheeks.

"If that is the case, more than half the country will have to be jailed"

In case you missed it, here is the incident that got both Gere and Shetty in trouble;

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=UeC46GxuRiI&mode=related&search=]